SC junks another petition vs political dynasties

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has junked another petition seeking to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to implement a constitutional provision prohibiting political dynasties barely three months before the polls.

In full-court session yesterday, justices of the high court voted to dismiss for lack of merit the petition filed last week by Ricardo Penson, a road-building contractor running for senator as an independent.

“The petition for mandamus of Ricardo Penson regarding political dynasties has been denied,” according to the SC public information office.

The high court held that the constitutional provision against political dynasties is not self-executing and must have an enabling law passed by Congress to back it up.

The SC had cited the same ground in dismissing with finality a similar petition filed by taxpayer Louis Biraogo last month.

Penson asked the high court last Jan. 28 to issue a writ of mandamus ordering the poll body to implement a ban on political dynasties as provided in Article II Section 26 of the Constitution, which reads: “The state shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

Penson, who launched last November his “Kontra Dynasty” movement, said there is a need for the high court to act on the issue since both houses of Congress have failed for a long time to perform their constitutional duty to provide a clear definition to “political dynasties” and implement the ban.

He alleged that such a failure on the part of the Senate and House of Representatives - which he named respondents - is clear violation of right to procedural and substantive due process that deserves judicial action.

Penson argued that Congress “have thus far failed, and continue to fail, to perform their duties and comply with the mandate of the Constitution resulting to an abrogation of their sacred duty, which, unless remedied, the constitutional provision will continue to remain pure rhetoric and noble objectives behind its institution merely illusory.”

But the high court ruled that it is “evident from the plain wording of the provision against political dynasties that it is not self-executing but simply a statement of a general principle which further requires a law passed by Congress to define and give effect thereto.”

A similar petition was filed by a group led by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. in October last year. The high court, however, has not acted on it.  

Andaya Mo vs political clans

Unfazed by their legal defeat at the SC, Penson and members of the Anti-Dynasty Movement (Andaya Mo) trooped to the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila to demand the disqualification of six candidates belonging to four political clans in different parts of the country.

Named respondents in the petitions were Davao mayoralty candidate Rodrigo Duterte, Pampanga vice gubernatorial candidate Dennis Pineda as well as Miguel and Luis Villafuerte who are both running for governor in Camarines Sur and Valenzuela City mayoralty candidate Rex Gatchalian and his brother Sherwin, who is seeking a seat in Congress.

“We call on the Comelec to disqualify the respondents in this petition on the strength of the existence, validity and consistent application of discoverable legal standards as the basis for immediate implementation,” the group said.– Mayen Jaymalin